There's something about texture mods I'm just not getting at a fundamental level.

[VikingPrince]

Given what people tell me is the case with Skyrim - that it's fundamentally limited to using no more than 4 GB VRAM and 3.1 GB system RAM - I don't see how people are capable of using like 90% of the texture mods available. I really don't. Let me explain my logic.

 

I have a computer that is only a couple months old; I built it myself with the intention of it being capable of handling about anything I could throw at it. Not some $3,000 monster, but still:

• i5-7600 3.5 ghz CPU
• 16 GB DDR4-2400 RAM
• 8 GB Radeon RX 480
• Windows 10
• running from an SSD

It should have zero problems running a game that came out in 2011, modded or not. HOWEVER. People tell me that Windows 10 limits DX9 applications to 4 GB VRAM. No idea why they would be so stupid as to make it work like that, but they were and they did. I'm also told that Skyrim is built to only be able to use 3.1 GB of RAM. I have no idea why they would be so foolish as to write a program and make it incapable of benefiting from improvements in computers, but they were.

 

So, given those facts, I basically got NOTHING out of a new computer. It has literally no advantage and cannot perform any better than the average desktop available in 2011. So then I have to assume that if my computer cannot make use of texture mods, I don't see how anybody else's can either.

 

The texture mods I'm using:

• I'm using the 2k version of Vivid Landscapes: The 4k version simply didn't work. It froze my computer the instant I tried to leave Breezehome. I therefore have literally no idea how it's possible for anybody to be using the thing. If my computer is 100% incapable of using the 4k version, then I have to assume that something like 95% of the computers out there can't either.
• Real Girls Realistic Body Texture for UNP UNPB and SeveNBase - WIP: I'm using the large version, which has a description of "4096 RGB, 100mb vram usage, for extremely high-end machines only." Well, I would have thought mine was "extremely high-end", especially given what I'm told about RAM limitations in Skyrim anyway.
• SMIM. Regular version, not the ultra-lite version.
• The aMidianBorn Book of Silence: Armors, Creatures, Dragonborn, Unique Items, and Weapons.

That's essentially it. I have a Daedric Armor retexture that shouldn't be impacting the system at all, because it literally isn't on-screen, since I haven't made any and nobody is running around wearing it. I have a lot of weapons stuff that I assume has decent textures, but there should only be so much of that impacting things - I don't see a lot of NPCs running around with non-vanilla weapons and such.

 

My results have been mixed. Real Girls was the first thing I used. It was a little wonky at the start, black textures and such, but it settled down. Adding Vivid Landscapes was more problematic; as I said, the 4k textures were simply a 100% failure: instant and repeated freezing as soon as I tried going outdoors. SMIM seemed like it didn't complicate things, really, but I did occasionally get purple textures and CTDs. They tend to get more frequent as the day goes on, although I have no idea how that's possible. Once the game CTDs that should free up all the memory; the 50th time I start the game should be exactly like the first time of the day.

 

I loaded aMidianBorn's armors first, which increased the issue; more frequent purple textures and CTDs. I would get this quirky issue where the game glitched graphically, stuttering between two frames of video repeatedly, without actually freezing the game; ALT-TABing to the desktop and back would fix the issue. Then I loaded in the rest of his retextures, and the game instantly became unplayable; the stuttering problem occurred instantly once I went outdoors, and when I fixed the problem and started moving again, it instantly happened again.

 

So this leads to my question: How is anybody at all using any of these texture mods?

• With 8 GB VRAM and 16 GB system RAM, I have a reasonably high end computer. In fact, if the 4 GB VRAM and 3.1 GB system RAM limitations are actually correct, my computer is literally as good as it can get. People could drop $4,000 on a computer and still have zero performance improvement over my $1,000 computer. So if my computer can't handle it, whose can?
• I don't have all that many texture mods - if this small number of texture mods is this problematic, what good are texture mods? Are people supposed to mod one thing and that's it? That's all computers can handle? Try using more than one texture mod and you're done?
• Are people correct when they say 4 GB VRAM and 3.1 GB system RAM are the limits of what Skyrim can use? If so, that's inexplicable. It's like Bethesda was afraid that if people modded Skyrim to look too good, it would make the console version look good, so they purposely gimped the game so that it couldn't handle much more than what consoles could deliver.
• Am I being unrealistic about just how good my computer is? I understand it isn't in the top 0.001% of computers, but I did honestly think its specs were in the top 5% or so. If so, and I still have issues running texture mods, what the hell? Are people really spending time making mods that the vast majority of players just can't use?

Any suggestions would be more than welcome. I'm not running an ENB, and I haven't felt a lick of heat from my computer, so I have to assume the GPU isn't being stressed at all. If RAM limitations are really screwing me over, I'm not gonna be happy.

Edited May 13, 2017 by VikingPrince

[VikingPrince]

Sorry if this thread sounds rant-y. I'm a little frustrated, and apparently some aspect of system requirements is going over my head. I would have thought I had way more system resources than necessary for even a heavily modded game, but performance is still wonky.

[Novem99]

I thought I already pointed it out the last time:

 

#1 Skyrim Original version on Windows 7:

No VRAM limitation but 3.1GB RAM cap that can almost entirely be bypassed by using ENBoost and the Skyrim Memory Patch. You don't have to use the visual improvements of the ENB to make use of the memory hack called ENBoost that is part of every ENB preset.

 

 

#2 Skyrim Special Edition on Windows 10:

No VRAM limitation, no system RAM limitation. Only downside: there aren't roughly mods available for it as for the old Skyrim.

 

 

#3 Skyrim Original Version on Windows 10:

4GB VRAM limit AND 3.1GB RAM cap. So you don't wanna do this.

 

 

 

If you wanna have this kind of beautiful Skyrim like the rest of us screenarchers and make full use of your gaming PC you better go with #1.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Novem99

[VikingPrince]

I thought I already pointed it out the last time:

 

#1 Skyrim Original version on Windows 7:

No VRAM limitation but 3.1GB RAM cap that can almost entirely be bypassed by using ENBoost and the Skyrim Memory Patch. You don't have to use the visual improvements of the ENB to make use of the memory hack called ENBoost that is part of every ENB preset.

 

 

#2 Skyrim Special Edition on Windows 10:

No VRAM limitation, no system RAM limitation. Only downside: there aren't roughly mods available for it as for the old Skyrim.

 

 

#3 Skyrim Original Version on Windows 10:

4GB VRAM limit AND 3.1GB RAM cap. So you don't wanna do this.

 

 

 

If you wanna have this kind of beautiful Skyrim like the rest of us screenarchers and make full use of your gaming PC you better go with #1.

 

Okay, thanks for the info.

 

Unfortunately, dropping more $$$ on a copy of Windows 7 is not in the cards at the moment, and I can't switch to SSE until more mods get made for it and SKSE gets released for it. I'll use ENBoost and Skyrim Memory Patch to fix the system RAM issue, and I'll just have to accept the VRAM limitation.

 

Thanks again for the help. Maybe the next TES game will be a little better future-proofed for us PC types.